Thursday, August 7, 2008

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer amazed us with this new video of the future Windows 7. From the graphics’ point of view, this new exciting version makes Vista look like David in front of Goliat. The main feature of the platform that made us so excited is the touch and multi-touch integration, based mostly on Microsoft’s Surface Table.

Among the new features unveiled, we can encounter multi-touch gestures in photo galleries, such as flicking, panning and zooming with two fingers; an OSX-like dock; drawing with ten fingers in a multi-touch paint program; a multi-touch piano application, and a program based on Microsoft’s Live Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth, that allows in-depth mapping.

Windows 7 seems to be a combination between Vista and the Surface Table, as the other features beside the multi-touch ones look fairly alike the ones from Vista. The new platform is expected to launch in about 18 months.

Asus has just released a Gaming Beast, that will please literally every gamer. The Ares CG6150 has first been unveiled at CeBit and features some of the most powerfull components on the market.

What you get is an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 CPU, that you can overclock to 4.0Ghz, a Blu-ray drive, two gigabit Ethernet ports, up to 4TB of disk space, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, Nvidia nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset with three GeForce GTX280 in SLI, two power supplies and a custom liquid cooling system.

Until now, pricing details haven’t been unveiled, but don’t expect them to stay low.

6 months after Samsung unveiled their GDDR5 memory, AMD announced that the next generation of ATI Radeon graphics cards will be based on the fore-mentioned technology. AMD will name Qimonda as their new partners to supply them with the GDDR5 modules, which will benefit stream processing and also boost gaming performances.

This announcement comes just weeks before the expected public debut of the new ATI Radeon 4000-series GPUs, and ATI officials say that it will be the first commercial implementation of the Graphics Double Data Rate 5 technology. Both ATI and Nvidia will surely offer better performance with the new core GPU designs.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Aren’t you tired of your PC? By his ugly shape and the way that it looks? Well, this is exactly what designer Apostol Tnokovski was feeling when he decided to create the smallest PC ever made. It’s not going to be like a PDA, it’s going to be a PC with all conventional components (mouse, keyboard, normal screen).

The concept PC is called E-Ball and it’s shaped like a sphere because in Tnokovski’s opinion this is the best shape in nature and it draws everybody’s attention.

Also, the E-Ball PC supports a paper holder and the paper sheet on the holder could act like a screen where you can watch movies or something. This concept PC will measure 160mm in diameter and it was designed for Microsoft Windows OS, sorry about the others. For the moment there is no word on pricing or when it’s going to be available, however, I am sure that everybody would like to see a small spherical PC like this one.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Toyota thinks about the future once again as they unveiled the “Winglet” which is “a personal transport assistance robot ridden in a standing position.” The robot was created in order to help people to have a safer and more mobile life therefore it could become an everyday transportation mean.

The Winglet is being developed by Toyota Motor Corporation, or TMC, and it’s “still being refined” as it surely needs some improvements. The robot features a body, an electric motor, two wheels and internal sensors (of course), the latter with the purpose of monitoring your position in order to make some adjustments that will increase or decrease power for stability.

“An unique parallel link mechanism” ensures the movement, you can go forward, backward and it’s simple to turn as you’ll only have to shift body weight therefore the Winglet is “safe and useful even in tight spaces or crowded environments.”

In order to fit everybody’s preferences, Toyota developed three version, “L”, “M” and “S”. These models vary between “practical” and “hands-free sporty”.

TMC will begin testing, technical and consumer trials in Autumn at the Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya, and Laguna Gamagori, and then they will see how the Winglet reacts to crowding and other conditions, and they also want to see how regular people acts around the robot and they will test at the Tressa Yokohama shopping complex in Yokohama City in 2009. Check out the video below and tell us what you think about this device.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

The recycling business is looking up! This new wave of recycled furniture, made up of second hand household goods has made quite a splash on today’s market. One of the most interesting perhaps is this recycled skateboard chair. Made from 8 second hand skateboards screwed into the chairs metal frame. Neoprene is then sprayed on top of the skateboards to give it that soft leathery feel. Totally rad, yet maintaining those classy upper-crust looks. The price, unfortunately, has not been included, but I would say $250 would not be a bad price. Perfect for inviting your surfer friends over for cocktails!

I know that probably most of you are enjoying your iPhone 3G and you are very satisfied with it, but when you will this concept you might want to reconsider your thoughts. The cellphone is called Plica which means folding of a body part.

Plica consists of two touchscreens and it looks exactly like a regular cellphone. When the phone is folded in two screens, you will use one as a keyboard and on the other you will be able to see whatever you want to. Also, you can view the images on both screens which means twice the resolution. Plica is very functional kind of like a mini-laptop and it features USB and headphone jacks.

This could really be the iPhone killer as the double touchscreen is really great, the only problem is that this is only a concept. Plica was developed by designer James Piatt and I can’t wait to see this on the market.